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AIBU?

To expect DH pay towards household bills?!

396 replies

glossyflower · 20/08/2013 08:45

I'm feeling rather cross.
When me and now DH moved in together, he paid £300 a month to me, as the house we live in I own, so all bills are in my name (and still are).
Then he decided he wanted to do an MA which I fully supported him doing. After a while he couldn't afford the rent so I was fine with it as he was working towards something.
Since the course is now long over, we have married and have a 4 month old baby.
I work full time but currently on maternity. I can't afford to take the full year off so I'm going back when DD is 6 months old.
DH was working in a crappy wage job but recently got a better office based job for slightly more salary.
Recently I have said to him I need some money again each month, £300. Initially he agreed. Now he's saying he needs to wait this month as he's only just started the better paid job.
This morning I said, should I go back to work full time? He knows full well I don't want to go back full time - I do three 12hr shifts a week and ideally would love to have just 2 shifts.
He turned round and said I should be going back full time as we can't afford otherwise. I said I could afford it if he contributed more towards the bills and he needs to give me £300 per month again. He then said he couldn't afford it as he spends so much on our food shopping.
BTW £300 per month is no where near even half the bills so I am being generous.
I am the main earner, and he mostly buys our food.
I can afford to pay the bills but by the end of the month I am struggling and I have no money to do anything for myself. I often can't afford to put diesel in my car, I drive and he doesn't. A couple of weeks ago he had some time off and wanted us to go to the Peak District, 2.5 hours away. I told him only if he could pay the fuel as I had literally no money, I went to put £40 in but then asked if I should put £50 in, he told me he couldn't afford the extra tenner. In fact I struggled a couple of weeks ago to find £10 to get my hair cut whilst DH has several gigs he's going to in a couple of months time and goes out on camping/climbing trips with his friend.
I've never understood with married people, the my money and your money thing, it should be wholly joint, I have said I would like a joint bank account and he's agreed but it never happens.
Recently I told him I wanted to sit down together and look at both our finances closely to see how much spare money we should have. I couldn't get him to sit with me, and all I got was vague answers like this loan is approx this much, I don't know exactly.
From this I gauged that £300 would be fair to him and he'd still have spare money for himself each month. This would also mean I could have spare money for myself.
I feel like a total doormat.

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ihearsounds · 20/08/2013 16:10

So you do all the housework. Pay all the bills. Do all the shopping apart from the odd loaf and pint of milk. Do everything for the baby.

And he does what exactly apart from spend his money on crap and run up thousands of pounds worth of debt? You really have yourself a great catch there. Hmm

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glossyflower · 20/08/2013 16:26

I know how awful it sounds but we are happy together otherwise.
He does a little around the house, granted not as much as me, but he's getting better.
...
My personality is such that I feel a lot of guilt and take on the responsibility of others. Nothing to do with DH it's just how I am and how I've always been.

I will keep you posted and I will stand my ground and see it through.

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expatinscotland · 20/08/2013 16:31

'My personality is such that I feel a lot of guilt and take on the responsibility of others. Nothing to do with DH it's just how I am and how I've always been.'

Everything to do with DH. You're a magnet for people like this.

Honestly, you need to get serious about your finances and be firm, upfront and assertive about money and debt or you are setting yourself up for some negative financial outcomes in your life.

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LittleBearPad · 20/08/2013 16:36

'We are happy together otherwise"

He just does very little around the house, objects to contributing financially, hides debts and only wants to do fun things with DC whilst spending money on gigs whilst you pay for everything else.

Seriously!!

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wispaxmas · 20/08/2013 16:36

I don't understand families with separate finances. I can understand everyone having their own spending money, but I just don't understand the whole 'we have to each put in equally' argument, ESPECIALLY when children come into the picture. Make an appointment at your local branch to set up a joint account and drag him there. Easiest way would be to add a name to whichever account already has all the direct debits for household things. Then arrange for salaries/income to be paid into said joint account. If he's already agreed to joint finances there's no excuse not to do this. You are a family unit, it's entirely unfair to you for him to have extra spending money.

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foreverondiet · 20/08/2013 16:40

Sounds very selfish - need to sit down together and work out finances... Although probably this should have been done a while back before he decided to do the MA and you agreed not to ask for money for bills. Priority does need to be towards paying back any loads as interest will be expensive. It might be that he can't afford to go to any gigs - due to cost of his MA and the effect it had on your finances. Time to sit down - but yes agree with others cocklodger...

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ENormaSnob · 20/08/2013 16:43

You are being taken for a mug.

More fool you.

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HansieMom · 20/08/2013 16:51

So he is paying for food, but all he does is bring something home on his bike, milk, bread, bargains.

He should be doing online shop and paying for it!

He does seem a drag on you. Does not drive, big unnecessary debt, not much housework, and not much help with baby.

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whiteandyellowiris · 20/08/2013 16:53

me and dh have one pot, everything goes In there, everything comes out of there, then we both have a small amount of spending money, we both have the same, to spend to going out with friends or clothes or book etc

and it works v well for us
but we are both sensible with money

holdays cars etc we talk about and agree together

I can't underdstand how couples do it any other way, esp couple that pay a percentage of their income in, it makes it all way too complicated

your either in life together or your not imo
but I do see this things in black and white

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bronya · 20/08/2013 16:54

He needs to show you his bank accounts, and he needs online banking so you can both log in regularly to have a look. My DH is horrendous with money - will fritter it away and never checks if he's in credit. After the last big issue we agreed that he logs in for us BOTH to check his spending, once a fortnight or so. It's working...

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DuelingFanjo · 20/08/2013 16:56

you need to sit down and split all bills and mortgage costs fairly down the middle, maybe with a bit less for him if his wage is a lot lower than yours.

Anything else is unfair.

if you need to drum it home to him get the local paper and look up the price of one bedroom flats and show him how much he is actually saving himself by living in your house.

Seriously - I KNOW it's hard to talk about money but he can't be blind to the fact that he has to pay for a roof over his head and heating and food? Can he? He's not blind, he is just choosing to pay less for as long as he can get away with and he is doing it knowingly because he can get away with it.

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DuelingFanjo · 20/08/2013 16:58

by the way - DH and I don't have a joint account but he does pay half of all the outgoings into my account by direct debit/standing order thing every month as all the bills bar one come out of my account because he moved in with me.

You don't need a joint account to be fair you just need him to realise that he is being unfair.

ask him.. 'Do you think it is fair that i pay more than half of our joint expenditure to live in this house?' If he says yes then he's a knobber.

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MrsKoala · 20/08/2013 17:26

wow this is difficult. I know a lot on MN can find this kind of behaviour unbelievable and are suspicious that no one could not realise they are spending that amount of money. But i have lived with 2 men like this (both dyslexic and one 'on the spectrum'). Both take money out till it stops, and assume others (particularly 'professionals' are right so never question money like bills or whether things have come out or not). My current DH finds money daunting and refuses to open bills or deal with it to our detriment. In fact i would say he is terrified. We had an issue similar to yours where he just couldn't see how things add up, 'it's only lunch/coffee/£20 etc' . Oddly as well he thinks anything under £100 is nothing but if you go over it by a penny he freaks out. So will think nothing of spending £60 3 times in a day, but if we need something which is £110 there were months of negotiation and decision making conversations as to whether to buy it.

The only way we could stay together was to have a joint bank account and me take over all finances (especially tax - oh god the tax bills which mounted because he wouldn't send in his details or open the letters because he was scared were unbelievable). We had the full and frank disclosure conversation. All money goes into the same pot, all bills come out and we are both allocated the same amount of spending money. He refused to see how this would work, but the first month we did it we had +£300 in the acc at the end of the month rather than the -£300 we usually had.

If i don't stay on top of it it slips back tho.

I think you really need fairness in relationships otherwise you will start to resent each other. My ExH earned £39k and i earned £15k, yet he still insisted we split it all 50/50. This meant i would be crying that i had holes in my tights/shoes and he would nod sympathetically then show me the £400 camera he'd treated himself to. Confused

I hope you sort it because the worry and stress is awful. Good luck.

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MrsKoala · 20/08/2013 17:29

Dueling - I do think it is often fair if someone pays more than half of the bills, IF they earn more that is. It should either be proportionate or joint acc and same spends each. Otherwise more often than not the woman will suffer as usually (not always or in this situation) will suffer.

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Inertia · 20/08/2013 17:31

"We're happy together otherwise"

I'm not bloody surprised he's happy!

He's got a wife who already owned a house, has paid all his bills forever, has bankrolled his MA course and paid off his debts, looks after his child, still pays the bills even on mat leave with no income, drives him everywhere, and does the cooking and housework.

Meanwhile he gets to spend all his money on hobbies and travel, runs up debt, pays nothing for his own keep apart from whatever milk and bread will fit on a bike, pays nothing for his child, does nothing except fun stuff for his child, begrudges looking after the baby when his wife has errands to run, and refuses to either pay his fair share or discuss finances.

He's got the life of Riley, why the hell would he want anything to change?

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StuntGirl · 20/08/2013 17:34

What Inertia said.

You're being taken for a fool love!

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expatinscotland · 20/08/2013 17:36

I can't believe you fell for his excuses regarding doing the food shopping. Chortle! I took a bus and a rucksack and one of those trolley thingies and do a huge food shop for years. Or he can do an online shop.

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soverylucky · 20/08/2013 17:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsKoala · 20/08/2013 17:40

Oh i missed the shopping bit - i thought he paid for and did it all?

It sounds as tho he wants to continue with his lifestyle of singledom but with all the benefits of having a family. Agree entirely with what Inertia says too. You should have more balance for more than just your money. Your household chores and free time should be equal too. He needs a massive reality check.

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comingintomyown · 20/08/2013 17:42

Sorry OP but Inertia has it bang on Sad

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BlehPukeVomit · 20/08/2013 17:45

You feel like a doormat because you ARE a doormat Sad

I hope you manage to sort things out. He sounds awful and selfish.

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MrsKoala · 20/08/2013 17:46

How much does he earn OP?

Because if he rides to work on his bike, doesn't give any money to you for the expenses and only 'picks up bits from the bargain bin' (wtf!) Then where the hell is all his money going? Even if he earned min wage that would be about £600 per month surely? I wish i had £600 for myself.

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YourHandInMyHand · 20/08/2013 17:50

You are making so many excuses for him! He's a grown man for christ sake, he should be capable of not getting into thousands of pounds of needless debt (more debt than he needed and didn't even pay for MA out of it and has credits cards, plural!), and he should also be perfectly capable of organising a weekly internet shop!

In your shoes I would be looking at his paperwork and seeing what his debts and spending are in black and white.

If you both work full time then you should have equal amounts of spending money left over after essentials. He needs to grow up and stop being such a selfish user and you need to get serious with him before you lose all respect for him and yourself.

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OnTheNingNangNong · 20/08/2013 17:50

I am a SAHP, my deal is to look after the children, clean when I can, manage the finances, try to do my non financial share as I don't earn anything.

If he doesn't pull his weight at all, you're a mug and he saw you coming...

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glossyflower · 20/08/2013 17:53

He does do the shopping but its not what I call a proper shop on a regular basis. We live quite near the supermarket so he's often buying things as and when.
I find myself during the daytime going off to do a proper shop because there's nothing in the cupboards that you could put together to do a meal.
We need more organisation on the meal planning then I suspect the shopping will be more organised.

And koala my DH is dyslexic too. He has a very high IQ, is enormously clever but when it comes to routine day to day simple things he's rubbish.

I earn £26k he earns £16k both of us full time.

He just rang me to ask if we need anything from the shops as he needs to buy lettuce (for his sandwiches)!

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